This invention relates to the field of toilet seat lifters, and more particularly, to toilet seat lifters which may be operated by applying pressure with the user's foot.
Many prior art toilet seat lifting devices are known, which permit the user to raise a toilet seat by stepping upon a pedal. By the use of levers, rods, cables, or fluid-displacing pistons, the force of the user's foot is transmitted to the toilet seat, so that the seat may be lifted without soiling the hands and without the nuisance of bending down to reach the seat.
Although some such prior art devices are functional, they have not achieved wide acceptance and use in the United States. This lack of acceptance is believed to be due, at least in part, to several disadvantages inherent in the design of prior art devices. Some devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,016 of Kemp, are mechanically complex, and could therefore be prohibitively expensive to manufacture. Simpler and perhaps less costly devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,999,070 of Svedelius, have failed to provide any form of adjustment to fit toilets of varying height. Where adjustment has been provided, such as in the device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,385 of Fields, the adjustment may require the use of tools. Tools have also been necessary for the installation of most prior art devices, which must be rigidly attached to the toilet and/or to the floor nearby to permit proper functioning. In addition to the inconvenience of the need to use tools for installation and adjustment, the practice of rigid, permanent attachment has made cleaning of the toilet unneccesarily awkward, since the device may not be easily removed for regular cleaning.
A simple device is needed, which uses a minimum number of parts, which avoids costly bearings, linkages, and other mechanisms which complicate the device and drive up manufacturing and retail costs, which can be easily installed or removed without the use of tools, which is adjustable for varying toilet heights, and which is readily removable for cleaning.